


Honor Thy Lover

by Illyriarocks



Series: Bulletproof [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supernatural
Genre: Bulletproof verse, F/F, F/M, Introduction of the beta couple, Nyssa joins Team Arrow, Sara dead af rn, Talia is crazypants, part 2 of the verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 22:46:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10931598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illyriarocks/pseuds/Illyriarocks
Summary: NYSSA-CENTRIC!Nyssa joins Team Arrow to avenge Sara and to defeat her rogue sister Talia. Laurel and Dean appear in supporting roles, with flashbacks to Sara's time in the League and the Nyssara love story. Main storyline set between November 2014-May 2015.Side-note: this is the only part of the saga where Laurel and Dean are not the focus. At least, when they're both alive....





	1. Wish To Join

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Becks_Rylynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Becks_Rylynn/gifts).



For someone accustomed to the honor-bound and conservative ways of the League of Assassins, the hustle and bustle of the very liberal Starling City was undoubtedly baffling and alien to one Nyssa al Ghul. Daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Heir to the Demon. Logically, she would desire to find herself as far from it as possible and visit there only infrequently. Never, if allowed. The glistening, hidden city of Nanda Parbat high in the Tibetan mountains was her home. Where she was born and raised. Trained in the arts of her people. And yet she found herself in Starling again. All too often, her colleagues would suggest. But this city was important to Nyssa. It was her the love of her life was born, was raised, and ultimately died far too soon. She felt honor-bound to be here, even if she had declared war on Sara's friends.

She hesitated.

Emotion overtook her.

The vertigo-dealing man in the alleyway would live another day.

A familiar voice called out behind her:

"Drop the bow, Nyssa," Oliver called.

"You think I am here to kill you, Mr. Queen? I am not even poised to loose this arrow."

The Arrow's intense stare bore into the back of her skull. Nyssa was keenly aware that an arrow was trained on her, but made no move to lower her own weapon.

"Why else?"

"Have you ever stopped to think that perhaps I am here solely because I mean you no harm?"

"Given your last few visits, call me skeptical. Put the weapon down."

"I have no desire to hurt you or your friends, Oliver. I wish to join you."

"Excuse me?"

"I want to join your… Team Arrow."


	2. Nyssa In The Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyssa, well, comes to the Arrowcave. I suck at summaries, guys

"Unimpressive," Nyssa scoffed as she descended the stairs into Team Arrow's base of operations.

"It's enough," Oliver scolded.

"Were I in charge, it would indeed be in much nicer conditions that your compatriots find themselves."

"Oh, like you could do better than-" Felicity started. "Nyssa! Oliver, what the hell is she doing here?"

"Vagueness and double-speak, apparently," Oliver quipped.

This earned him the lovely sensation of his face meeting the floor as Nyssa literally kicked his ass and he flew forward.

"My father has disowned me. I've always found Starling to be a nice place to visit, mainly due to Sara, but that is of course changed now. I understand that her sister Laurel is aware of Oliver's identity and I sensed a kindred spirit in her when last I was here."

"Wait, so you're switching Lances, or," Felicity practically word-vomited before catching herself. The death glare alone she got from the raven-haired warrior was enough to make anyone want to cut their tongue out, not to mention the agony plainly seen in Nyssa's eyes. Ollie wasn't too pleased by the outburst either, if his scowl was any indication.

**_FWHEW!_ **

An arrow whizzed past Nyssa's head and she whirled around to find Roy poised to kill her.

"Stand down, Roy," Oliver commanded.

Roy remained steadfast, almost daring Nyssa to make a move.

And make a move she did. Within seconds, Roy was on the ground, a knife pressed into his carotid artery.

"Next time, Mr. Harper, intend to use it," Nyssa growled.

With that, the former Heir to the Demon stalked away.

At that moment, the sound of Laurel's heels on stairs echoed throughout the base.

"What'd I miss," she asked.


	3. Talia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet the first Big Bad of this verse

Nyssa had been in Starling for three weeks now. As expected, after her methods proved too "reckless" for Oliver's tastes, her initial request to be a part of his vigilante team had been denied. When Roy Harper confessed his suspicions of having murdered her beloved under the influence of Mirakuru, Nyssa had beaten him brutally. Almost to the point of death. Though the Heir of the Demon knew in her heart of hearts that the Magician had a hand in Sara's death, she needed an outlet for her grief and rage. Harper was still in the hospital. When Carrie Cutter began her mad crusade to win the Arrow's heart, she bested the former law enforcement officer in combat, only for Oliver to intervene at the last possible moment and send her off to ARGUS. He did, however, not seem to mind when she executed Digger Harkness. That her and the team's methods clashed was something Nyssa had expected, but never once did she expect to be barred from membership into Oliver's glorified archery club.

He did, however, have the basic human decency to put her up in a well-to-do apartment. While the League had the funds for her to be able to pass as a member of the one-percenters, one of the city's elites like Oliver, Nyssa preferred to live a less public and quieter life of modest means.

Her single-room apartment was bare except for the essentials of a bed, which was truly more of a cot, and the sort-of-kitchen area near the entrance. Okay, so it was a loft. A good loft, but still a loft. So, she might've been living alone. So what? She was used to it. She liked living alone. But as of this moment she wasn't alone. Using the acutely tuned senses afforded her by years of training, she pulled the intruder from the shadows and pinned them against the support beam closest to them.

To say that Nyssa face was a picture of shock was an understatement. The intruder was not Malcolm Merlyn, as she had come to expect in the months since settling in the city. It wasn't Oliver, come for the thousandth time to try and "bury the hatchet" as he said. What a strange phrase. Burying a weapon did nothing to appease interpersonal strains. It wasn't even Laurel, hoping to spar and become a better fighter. The woman standing before her had their father's eyes. Blonde, statuesque, build like one of the strong pillars of Nanda Parbat. Nyssa released her grip, but put her sword to the smirking woman's throat.

"Talia?"

"The one and only, sister."

"How is this possible? You were a child-"

"A child in the 1960s, I know. I should be in my seventies now. I have had this conversation more times than I care to admit, baby sister. Do you truly believe there is one Lazarus Pit in this world? No, there are seven. Or, at least there were. Now there are five, one of which is in the possession of Damien Darhk."

"So you consort with Darhk and his degenerates now?"

"I utilize their services when necessary."

"Does Father know you live? I seem to recall him exiling you around the time Malcolm Merlyn came to us."

"Father was always paranoid about me."

The past tense was not something Nyssa had ever heard in relation to her long-living parent. What did this mean, 'was'? Her father was Ra's al Ghul, and the fifth holder of that title, none had ever survived his sword.

"'Was'"?

"I killed him," Talia chuckled.

Nyssa gasped softly, causing Talia to only laugh more openly. As the brunette lowered her sword, Talia caressed her sibling's face.

"He is dead, sister. We have nothing to fear from him anymore."

"Our father, dead?" It still hadn't sunk in.

"I am now Ra's al Ghul, Nyssa. I am the Demon's Head. Malcolm Merlyn will die for the crime of orchestrating the murder of one of his own, as will the city that harbored him."

"Talia, you cannot be serious. Oliver Queen and his compatriots have given Merlyn asylum. If anything, your quarrel is with them and not with the city at large."

Talia's eyes shone with a madness Nyssa had not previously encountered, something deeper than the savagery brought on by the Lazarus Pit. Or Pits, now, as the case may be.

"My darling sister, your time with these Westerners has made you soft. Starling City will burn within the week. Its streets will run red with blood and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little insight into Talia's madness

_Fire was an element with which Talia closely associated. Fire was cleansing, fire was pure. It was beautiful to behold. As she stood above a pit of fire, hardly a girl of thirteen, Talia felt no fear. The heat was almost unbearable, but this is what she had chosen as her rite of passage, as a way of proving to her father that she was worthy to be called his heir. She knew no other life than the League of Assassins, an organization dedicated to affecting change on a worldwide scale, and one day she would rule that mighty fist of nature with even more ruthless than her idol: the second man to bear the title of Ra's al Ghul, a battle-hardened man from the great nation of Japan._ **_He had killed the first Ra's during a trial by combat. Survived the sword after murdering one of the League's finest in 1522. Been given the ring, had largely been unchallenged. That was, until Talia, daughter of the first Ra's and the woman for whom she was named, stood up to him. She had fled, so the legends say, after being defeated. The Great Desert Flower of Egypt, her olive skin kissed by the sun, had tried to spare a large settlement from the League's wrath. This new Ra's burned the place to the ground and put the entire population to the sword as a demonstration of his power. Talia, supposedly, died in childbirth some years later and her child was smothered to death._ **

Talia continued staring out the window of her apartment in the Glades, the tale replaying itself in her head over and over like a silent film from the 1920s. The will of humanity was malleable enough given the correct incentives. Oliver Queen and his people were already divisive among both the common people and law enforcement. Talia would provoke them into killing each other, or at least give them the proper extra incentive. Their ire would be the gasoline used to set the fire that would cleanse the ground upon which this corrupt city stood. Like Gotham before it, Starling would fall or she would die in the quest.

++++++

"What the hell do you mean you have a sister?" Oliver was incredulous. "Why wait until now to share this with us?"

"Until yesterday, Mr. Queen, I believed her to be long since dead! The information was irrelevant. Now I find that not only is she alive, but also that she has killed our father and taken over the League."

"All right, so how do we stop her," Laurel piped up. "I imagine she doesn't have as much restraint as your father."

"Considerably less. Talia is ruthless and extraordinarily persistent; she will use and everything at her disposal to achieve her endgame."

"And what is her endgame?" Diggle inquired.

"Talia was raised to be wholly loyal to the League's vision of balance and purity as set forth by the first Ra's al Ghul six centuries ago: humanity is fundamentally corrupt, and the most corrupt of us must face righteous judgment."

"So she wants to destroy Star City?" Oliver again.

"As a start."

"Oh, look," Felicity deadpanned, "we're finding out that some well-connected psychopath wants to destroy the city. Must be November."

"She also desires to murder the entirety of the city's population. Brutally and in the most drawn-out manner possible. Men. Women. Children. It does not matter to my sister. She's always been a fundamentalist, but this is a new level of insanity. I came back to Starling in order to honor my deceased lover. I may not like it, but it was her home and I shall not see it annihilated. You need me. All of you will need me."

Oliver stared into Nyssa's eyes, trying to detect some sort of lie or half-truth. Was this some sort of elaborate fiction to let her on the team? She was dangerous. She was an assassin.

"I was not too different from you when you returned, Oliver," Nyssa answered his unspoken argument against her.

"She has a point," Diggle inserted.

"Fine. But only until Talia is dealt with."

"Very well."

"Welcome to the team."


	5. Grave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotional Nyssara things!

Since arriving in Starling, Nyssa often found herself at Sara's grave. This was particularly true in times of crisis. Having your supposedly-dead sister not only be alive but also be a homicidal maniac was definitely a crisis of multiple varieties. While it was accurate to say that she was never very fond of religion, only having been exposed to its more misogynistic and xenophobic sides, Nyssa surprised herself by praying that night, though not to a god of any sort. Nyssa prayed hard and long, in a combination of Arabic and English, to a loved one. More specifically, to Sara for guidance and temperance. As she ended the prayer, the brunette assassin rested her head against the gravestone.

"Please, habibti…"

"Oh, lord, you're not gonna beg for my help, are ya?"

Nyssa whipped around, jumping to her feet at the sound of a trespasser's voice and raising her sword to the individual's throat. What insolence was this? How dare someone interrupt her sacred time with her beloved? But what she saw next made her drop her sword: Sara Lance, in the flesh, alive and well. Or so it seemed. But she didn't care. All she cared about was seeing her again. Who cared if she was just some manifestation of her grief?

"Sara."

"Hey, you. So I hear you got some problems."

Nyssa was understandably confused. Sara certainly looked real.

"Your big sister's back, right, and she's got some evil plan to kill people. Why don't you just stab her in the face and be done with it?" Sara continued. "You and Talia never got along, even for the brief time your lives overlapped."

This Sara was cold, calculating. Not the Sara she remembered.

"The woman claiming to be Talia does not even remotely resemble my sister. There is a possibility she could be lying."

"You sensed it was her, did you not? Those who have held the title of Ra's have never been a stranger to extending their lives by body-switching their consciousness whenever the Lazarus Pit's effects finally run their course," Sara countered.

That settled it; this was not Sara. Sara was in the ground below her feet and this was her mind telling her what she already knew. But, praise be, she would be damned if she didn't relish the moment she had with this figment.

"You have to do whatever is necessary."

"You think I'm unaware of such an eventuality?"

"But are you prepared to killing your sister, to drive your sword through her heart? Because if you aren't, and you don't, you'll end up dead like me. Save your friends, Nyssa, consequences be damned."

Nyssa turned back to Sara's grave at this assertion. Yes, the apparition was correct. Yes, she wanted nothing more than to see her new friends- even if that was a loose term- safe and out of harm's way when Talia's plan unfurled. Nyssa turned back but Sara was gone.

Alone and out of options, Nyssa pressed her lips to the marble in a chaste kiss and departed for home.


	6. Cassandra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NYSSA EMOTIONALLY SUFFERS!

Nyssa's day began as usual: get up, shower, get dressed, go to the gym, go home and rest. Repeat. If Talia was serious about her threats against the city, and Nyssa never knew her elder half-sibling to bluff, Nyssa had to help defend it. As much as she was loath to admit it, Starling had become her second home. Unsurprisingly, Nyssa al Ghul was not one for fraternization. She had a job to do at this gym, and that was to get into shape. Not that she wasn't already in shape, but Nyssa prided herself when it came to maintenance of the physicality a life in the League afforded her. She was forty-five minutes into her daily eight-hour workout when a familiar voice called out to her.

"Don't forget to turn your hips," the person quoted her. "It's where the power comes from."

Nyssa continued pulverizing the punching bag but allowed her eyes to dart over in order to acquire knowledge of the identity of the individual who dared break her concentration.

To her relief, the person was Laurel.

"Why don't we go for dinner after this?"

"No," was Nyssa's flat refusal.

"Why not? What could it hurt?"  
"Talia has made a habit of harming those I have come to care for. I know Malcolm Merlyn is responsible for my beloved's murder, but I sense Talia's hand somewhere."

"So you don't want to actually have a life for fear of your crazy sister screwing it up?"  
"Precisely." Another strike to the bag.

Laurel responded to Nyssa's lack of attention to the conversation by putting her full weight on the other side of the bag and forcing Nyssa to stop.

"Laurel, you are being childish."

"Then listen to me."

"I have already offered to train you."

"And I accepted that offer."

"Don't you have something better to do than annoy me? Why don't you have dinner with that scruffy monster hunter of yours?"

" _Dean_  isn't available. Besides, we're just friends."

"Right," Nyssa shot her that look. You know the one.

"We are! I mean, he's nice and he helped me when I was in a really dark place in my life. I told him a few times I wanted to join him on the road, be a hunter like him, but he's refused both times. I mean, he's cute. I've kissed him twice, but I think I'm over it."  _'And I like you'_ , she wanted to tack onto her explanation, but she respected that Nyssa was still mourning Sara. She was still mourning Sara, too. Then, all of a sudden, Nyssa seemed to relax. She was still sweaty and gross, she was still drinking water and Gatorade, but she was listening. Intently. As if she had picked up on the gleam in Laurel's eyes. Shit! Laurel had to stuff those feelings down and do a better job at hiding them. Too bad hiding her feelings was not a thing Laurel did. It was fundamentally incongruous with her character. Besides, wouldn't dating a teammate be unprofessional?

"I'll call Cassandra," Laurel broke the uncomfortable silence. "Reserve us a place."

Now that was a name Nyssa hadn't heard in ages, much less dared to speak, as the name brought with it memories of the worst experience of her life.

"Cassandra?"

"Yeah, she owns the place and she's a friend of mine" Laurel grinned, oblivious to the connection. Why would she know anyway? Nyssa had told no one of her past, and they all assumed she was  _just_  an assassin.  _Just_  a killing machine. Sure, Laurel believed her to be a good person, but was she? She did nothing when  **it**  happened, to prevent  **it**  from happening. Cassandra. The person Nyssa should have protected was named Cassandra. That was the name Nyssa gave the poor, defenseless child.

_October, 2002- A WARM NIGHT_

_The room was bare, save for the mattress in its center and the candles all around. Six, Nyssa counted in a bid to distract herself from the tightening and gradually increasing pressure that accompanied the contractions. Nyssa paced the small room for what had to be the hundredth time in the last three hours. She was hot again, but the girl had nothing left to shed. Her father had taught her modesty. To the Fire with modesty. It served only to make her horrendously uncomfortable, more than she already was. She wouldn't have that! Without warning, another contraction began to flow through her, tightening her abdomen as though she were a rubber band pulled by some invisible force, and she dropped into a deep squat while moving her hips clockwise and counterclockwise. "Oh oh oh uhhh uh uh uh," she breathed, her eyes gently closed. The child in her huge orb of a belly would come whether she wanted it to or not, so what point was there in fighting her body? Nyssa inhaled and exhaled as she lowered herself onto her knees. She chuckled, feeling the infant still squirm about. It was almost maddeningly uncomfortable, especially when the movement coincided with a contraction, but adorable still. The pressure between her legs built and built, like a sword being shoved through an assailant. Nyssa could not deny the urge any longer. With a squeal and a deep breath, Nyssa tucked her chin to her chest and pushed. "Mmmffgghhugh!" She relaxed as the contraction tapered off. That wasn't so bad. Her confidence was short-lived._

"Nyssa?" Laurel moved her hand in front of Nyssa's face. "You okay? Looked like I lost you for a minute there. I got us a table for tonight at 8:30."

"8:30," Nyssa nodded and repeated. "I will be there."

Flustered, she gathered her belongings and departed the gym.

Nyssa awoke with a start, bolting upright and glaring into the darkness. She hadn't expected the innocent, unconnected woman who happened to have the same name as the child she lost to affect her so. Get a grip, Nyssa! Sighing, she lowered herself back down onto her side, curled up, and attempted to return to sleep.

" _Nnnngggghhh!" Nyssa grunted loudly. The child was finally moving, if slowly. The candles were growing lower, burning a bit less bright now. She'd been here a while. "Hhhhrrrmmmfff! Come- come out!" She snarled. "Is this enough, Father? Am I passing this test? Did you make Talia do this when Damian came?! Nnnngggrrrmmggguhh!"_

_No one would help her. She knew this. It was the law: if a female member of the League was impregnated while on a mission, she was given the choice of an abortifacient or continuing the pregnancy. If a woman chose the latter, which would disqualify her from assignments for close to the next year, she was taken down to the lower levels of the city when the time came to bear the child alone. Without aid. It was an atrocious and antiquated test of strength, as Nyssa's father- David Cain, as he had been referred to prior to his initiation- called it, but even he was not one to break with tradition. If she could survive unassisted childbirth then she could survive anything. What abusive hell was she born into? Still, she continued. Tucking her chin to her chest, she pushed once more. She had to do this. She had to._

After the third such flashback rendered her unable to sleep, Nyssa resolved to get up. Stay awake. Who cared if it was only 4 am? She was at least vaguely awake at this time anyway, grumbling as she trudged into the bathroom.

Gazing into the mirror, she panted. Nyssa did not expect this turn of events. What the hell? Was this some sort of parlor trick by her sister? Did Talia endeavor to distract her by bringing up a particularly traumatic part of her past? The birth itself was terrifying for sure, a she was but a teenager and she did it alone, but it wasn't traumatic. No, the trauma came after.

_The candles had burned out entirely by the time Nyssa collapsed back onto the mattress and the infant began squalling. At least it was alive. She already had better luck than most. Then the door opened._

" _No… please…" she mumbled, without energy to look up or even stop what was about to happen._

" _Cassandra, please…"_

_She dimly became aware of another presence in the room._

" _Talia, don't… let her stay…"_

" _I cannot. You know the law. I must carry it out. A physician will be here shortly to inspect you, to help you heal."_

_And Nyssa was alone again. She cried. Hard. The rest of the night, the brunette sobbed and shuddered. She did it, but there would be no reminder of her sacrifice. Her father hardly even acknowledged her during the pregnancy. To him, to Talia, and to the League, it was as if this had never occurred. The child was gone. Nyssa was in solitude, nothing but her own mournful sounds to keep her company._

Laurel had once asked Nyssa if she had known pain, beyond Sara's demise. The assassin lied and replied negatively, but as she punched the glass, as her knuckles became bloody, and as she stared with a fire and fury into the cracked glass, Nyssa whispered to herself:

"Yes, I have known pain. I have known loss. My sister was responsible- is, still- for that loss. And now she wishes to take even more from me. No more. She will fall by my sword before any others suffer in the name of the League's twisted codes or laws."


End file.
